Lars Ulrich Says Fans Can Expect ‘Plenty Of Tributes’ To Lemmy

Asked if fans can expect to see Metallica perform any Motorhead covers as a tribute to Lemmy Kilmister at any of the upcoming concerts, Lars said: “Hopefully. I think everybody knows what a significant role Lemmy played in Metallica’s existence, in my life, the life of the band. Obviously, Motorhead’s music has played a significant part, so I think that that will definitely happen. There’s a song on the new [Metallica] album [‘Hardwired… To Self-Destruct’] called ‘Murder One’ that also is a little bit of a nod in Lemmy’s direction, at least lyrically. So Lemmy is in our hearts and in our souls and in our thoughts all the time, and I’m sure that there’ll be plenty of tributes to him along the way in the next few years.”

The aforementioned Metallica song “Murder One” uses many of Lemmy’s songtitles in the lyrics. Metallica frontman James Hetfield stated about the track: “‘Murder One’ was the name of [Lemmy’s] amplifier, his favorite amp on stage. And I loved being murdered every night by that thing, man. He was just such an icon, such an inspiration to us as a band. There’s certainly no way we’d be around if there was no MOTÖRHEAD. And, you know, to see your idol, your immortal one, actually be mortal, it hit us pretty hard. So I felt, lyrically, it makes sense to acknowledge him and how much he’s meant in our lives.”

During the September 26 Town Hall event at SiriusXM’s New York studios, Hetfield stated about the inspiration for “Murder One”: “Motorhead had a lot to do with Metallica sitting here right now. But just Lemmy as an entity, as kind of a father figure, he helped us a lot. He was unafraid. And he was a character. And he was himself. And we all respected that so much. He did his own thing to the last breath. No matter who you are, how could you not be inspired by that?”

“In the summer of 1981, I followed Motorhead around on tour,” Ulrich added . “That was what made me want to be in a band. When I came back to Southern California and called up James and said, ‘Listen, we’ve got to give this a shot,’ … Motorhead is the catalyst.”

Shortly after Lemmy’s passing, Ulrich penned a lengthy tribute to the Motorhead mainman in which looked back on the influence Lemmy had not just on Metallica but also on him personally.

“I was down at [Lemmy’s] 70th party [on December 13, 2015 at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood], and I got a chance to sit with him for about ten minutes, just him and me. I told him that his obligation to the rock and roll community was to live forever because his birthday party was like a hard-rock class reunion,” he wrote in part. “Everybody was there because Lemmy’s one of the few people we can all agree on who is just the coolest guy ever. We would all show up. I told him it was his obligation to live forever, because he was the reason we could all get together and celebrate hard rock and celebrate Motorhead and see familiar faces because we’re all so scattered now. Obviously I could tell that he was in deteriorating health but we had a close bond, one that didn’t necessarily need to be reaffirmed or articulated. The less we said the more we knew the connection was there.”

Lars added: “Whenever Metallica played L.A., [Lemmy] would always come and watch us, and whenever Motorhead was up here, we’d always go and see them play. We probably crossed paths 50 to 100 times in the last 20 years, and he came and played with us onstage multiple times. It was a bond that deep and it goes back to the crazy summer of 1981.

“I will always appreciate and forever cherish all the great times we had together, but especially those early days. We were so vulnerable, so moldable because a significant part of who we’ve become, both in the band and as people, is directly due to not just him but all the rest of the people who were inspired and drank from the same bottles and shared the same stories and same space. His spirit will always live in us.”

“Murder One” is featured on Metallica’s new album, “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct”, which is out now. The effort consists of two discs, containing a dozen songs and nearly 80 minutes of music. Motorhead won the “Best Metal Performance” Grammy in 2005 for its cover version of the Metallica song “Whiplash”.

At a 1995 gig at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, members of Metallica celebrated Lemmy’s 50th birthday by taking the stage as a wigged tribute band dubbed the Lemmy’s

In a 2011 interview with Metal Insider, Lemmy said: “You can’t top Metallica. They’re really excellent band. I’m delighted that they said that I was one of their influences. Like, they have all of their influences, and you can’t hear the influences in them, which is great. They’ve become their own people, and that’s great. I like them a lot. I’ve spent a lot of time with those boys.”